Category Archives: holiday

Dec26

Some holiday shots

Posted on Monday, December 26, 2011 by Dianne

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For some reason, we left the camera on a high ISO rating, thus the photos are not as sharp as they could have been.

Mom’s Christmas fairy display

Part of her massive lighted house display (my brother did a ton of decorating)

Me and her dog Kelsey

The Comcast offered a roaring fire for atmosphere

We had turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce with walnuts and mandarin oranges and what I made puffy cauliflower casserole and ultimate green beans. The recipe called for a pinch of hot pepper flakes and must have really ‘activated’ when my brother reheated them. They were way too spicy.

I’m wearing a vest I’ve had for a while with a new top. Both Brian and Sean are wearing new shirts. You can tell Brian’s been sick from his dark circles. He’s getting there. These were taken before the tablet cracked. After that, we were kind of sad for the rest of the evening.

Update-Sean was able to return the tablet and get a refund. We’re saving up for a better brand that doesn’t break as easily.

Dec26

This welcomed Christmas Day

Posted on Monday, December 26, 2011 by Dianne

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I never had a white Amaryllis and I’m loving it.

We had a nice Christmas eve and Christmas. We did get together with almost everyone except my oldest brother who is a tech down at KYW tv in Philly. We said hi through my sister-in-law’s iPad. Speaking of tablets, I got one from Sean and it got a crack in the glass and hopefully he can return it. The blasted thing is made of glass and it slipped out of the case right on the floor and got the crack. I didn’t even have it 11 hours. I was showing it to my mom and was using the Kindle case (should have left it home) and forgot to zipper it when I got home and out if slid. I think it has to had a defect to break so easily! My brother says he has dropped his phone (me too) many times without a problem.

Anyway Sean got us a blu-ray player and the picture is really nice. He also got us a Kodak wireless printer (gotta love that he works at a Wally World). We got a family gift of a Keurig coffee maker which was fun to use this morning.

I did take a few photos last night and today, but only had the ones from last night on the computer.

My niece Tori opening her gifts from us-a book that featured making jewelry from famous paintings and a friendship bracelet kit.

Almost all of the cousins (missing Kenny-but he did join) having fun.

Sean and his Mom mom.

Dec18

Cookie love

Posted on Sunday, December 18, 2011 by Dianne

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Well… I finally got around to whipping up a few batches of cookies. I started with chocolate chips and did some 7 layer (Sean’s favorite) and some with a cookie press. That cookie press didn’t work too well. I got a Martha S. one I found for $1 at a resale. I think my dough got too warm. I squeezed out about 2 dozen and forgot the sprinkles on the first batch. I will do a few more tomorrow. I’m happy to be getting this done. Cookies are a special part of Christmas to me.

Sean is bringing me home ingredients for Rum balls (update-he got the wrong kind of cookies-I needed Nilla wafers and he got those rectangular vanilla wafers) . And I love Chocolate Swirl Peanut Butter cookies too. I hope I have enough peanut butter! Opps.

Sean and I went to Walmart and Peebles in Parkeburg (near Lancaster) after church last night. He had given me a gift card for my birthday and I got Monkees (they were my brother Don and my favorites as kids for a time) and Christmas karaoke cds. I bought myself a little karaoke machine and Brian hooked it up to a tv Sean used at PSU. The lyrics are right on the screen. I ordered popular music and Beatles cd to use. I do like to sing (I have a soprano voice and have sung in choruses and choirs in the past), so this is for me to blow off some steam or pretend I am a popular singer. ; )

I went in the Peebles and it has half the merchandise that our store has here! But believe me, I used that discount for some shoes and clothes at this store too.

I am placing an order at a place near Brian’s work for some meat and cheese platters, tea sandwiches or fruit. I got a voucher from LivingSocial for $40 worth of food for $20. I have to give them 48 hours . It’s near where my uncle lived and mom said their sandwiches are great. What’s nice is that they give you half orders, so I will probably order a few things.

I hope everyone is taking time to relax. I was on call today, they didn’t need me. I work two days (one morning, one evening) and am on call two more days. They are having a little party on the 24th (I don’t work that day) and I only heard about it through the lady at the cosmetics counter. I haven’t signed up to be in the ‘Secret Santa’, but I do have a gift for it. I just can’t believe not one manager mentioned the party to me. I guess I’m stuck in the back of the store and they all talk up in the front. I was talking with a young lady in the ladies’ clothes (she’s about 19-20) and probably her parents are my age. We were laughing about something just when the manager came around the corner. It was 8:40 pm and they were closing at 9. He couldn’t let it go and asked if I had something to do in my department. I did a lot that night and I guess he was still peeved that I didn’t notice I was on call Thursday. Sean gets his schedule online-much easier. Oh well…nice to have some spending money!

Dec9

It’s not a Grinch tree

Posted on Friday, December 9, 2011 by Dianne

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But wouldn’t the Grinch like this. It’s hard to catch it all light up, I should make a video! Part of the top gold went out and I had to find the flasher-not easy. It’s mostly favorite decorations. I want to add a few more to it.

The gold lights on the bottom happen to not be on right at this moment.

My favorite Mr. Moon ornament.

I hope to set up the tripod for a clearer shot tomorrow. Also finish the mantel, the window and tables. Wow, maybe not all tomorrow.

Dec9

Sneak Tree Peek

Posted on Friday, December 9, 2011 by Dianne

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This isn’t a great shot as I still needed more lights on the bottom (think there are 500 on it now) and taken with the cellphone. I’ll get around to more decent shots. The lights are green and gold and the gold blink (Sean’s request). I have mostly new things on it and only went through one box of older decorations. There’s a red and green adorned angel on the top and I added some of those red and white berries. The decorations are mainly red, white and green. It looks neat when all the gold go off at once.

Dec7

Ina strikes again!

Posted on Wednesday, December 7, 2011 by Dianne

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I took my mom home today and after we dropped off her packages, headed up to my hometown for lunch. It’s been a rainy, miserable day and is still raining and miserable. This is up near the courthouse (Media is the county seat of Delaware County).

This is Veteran’s Square (can you tell where I was parked from the one photo? You can see the courthouse too).

Our tree is up, but not fluffed or anything and the living room looks like a bomb hit. I will work on it the next few days as I don’t work until Saturday night. I only got 9 hours this week.

Dec2

Beginning to feel like Christmas

Posted on Friday, December 2, 2011 by Dianne

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Forgive this shot, it’s from my phone. I was so happy to create a little merriment (for me at least) in the chaos. I think I’ll be cleaning and decorating until the big day!

This is my handmade ornament tree that you probably remember from past year. I am adding small things on the metal willow tree behind the feather tree. I’ll need a taller tree soon!
I will have a busy weekend at the store. I work 4 to 9 on Saturday(I so dislike eating dinner at 3 pm) and then Sunday I’m doing gift wrap from 1-3. I like to gift wrap and I get to sit down! I’ve been hurting at night, mostly my knees and I wear a brace on either one or both at times.Think of me trying to wrap gifts like Martha Stewart on Sunday! I couldn’t get moving until 4 this afternoon. I got paid and wanted to hit Big Lots which I did.
Then I went over to the Dollar store to pick up stuff for some things for gift baskets. I saw a really sad sight and I can’t forget it. An elderly woman was all soiled and wet. She had black pants on, but you could see that she had an issue. And the urine smell was strong. She didn’t seem to care. She also had sores on her face. I had never seen anyone out like that. She was alone (and wearing dirty sandals) and I saw her about to get behind the wheel of a car. Now she has to have mental issues and there she was about to drive and it was getting dark. I couldn’t go up to the register for a few minutes. When I got in the car I used hand sanitizer. There is another elderly person being sweep under the rug and not taken care of when she can’t take care of herself. I came home and just sat on the sofa in shock a bit. You wish you could do something, but then she would have been embarrassed and she did look really dirty. I hope she gets help.

Nov24

Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on Thursday, November 24, 2011 by Dianne

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Cooking at Thanksgiving, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I hope everyone had a nice dinner!
I’m a bit late for a post as we are now finished dinner and waiting a bit for the clean up. All was pretty good-The turkey could have come out of the oven and rested longer. The side dishes were good-sauteed Parmesan Brussel Sprouts, ‘Smashed’ Yucan Gold Potatoes, Fresh Green Beans with sauteed mushrooms, Amish Sweet potatoes and Cornmeal stuffing with apple, pear and onion. This was the first time Brian ate good for a while. Sean is working overnight and is a bit anxious about that. I didn’t take any photos as we all look so blasted tired. : )
(Painting by Doris Lee)

Update-Sean left almost an hour ago for his overnight shift at Walmart. I go in from 4-8 pm. I’m still getting sore feet and knees. Ah the joy of standing so long! I go tidy up a lower shelf and sit on the floor sometimes.

Nov23

Good things come in paper packages

Posted on Wednesday, November 23, 2011 by Dianne

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I now get Southern Living magazine in the mail until April as the entertainment.com coupon offered it for $2-that was a bargain for such a lovely magazine. I put it up on a pedestal with Martha Stewart Living, but I think they each have their own uniqueness. Southern Living had some yummy recipes and they out did themselves with this issue:

Soups, Cookies, Roasts, decorations…I’m talking things I want to make. Sometimes MSL has recipes that I just don’t know what it is or where to find an ingredient. I will probably make the taco soup from SL tomorrow as I have to be to work from 5-10 pm. The store closes actually closes at 9, but they are getting ready for Black Friday. I don’t know where they will squeeze another thing in there. People can’t walk through racks without knocking stuff off as it is.

Speaking of the store, 4 hours was better as was the second day. I did write a note to the manager if I could have 5 minutes to sit down after 2 hours, I’d appreciate it. He wasn’t in, and I didn’t sit down. The chitchat lady (see my reply to Zoey yesterday) was watching me all day! She put me back in the ladies dept. and I like that sales lady there better. They all whip through those registers so quickly! I bet they couldn’t whip through the internet like me! I only made a few boos boos, one actually I think wasn’t my fault. I did a few returns and the customers weren’t given the receipt to sign. The customer used a debit card and she didn’t sign the receipt. Another assistant manager had to approve the transaction and she needed to sign the receipt and she didn’t. I think she stuck it in the receipt bag without the signatures. I’m only suppose to be shadowing the sales people anyway, so if I forgot a step, it’s really their mistake as they are suppose to be watching me. I’m getting it! If Brian hadn’t been sick (he’s somewhat better-temp down to 100.3) I think I could really concentrate ‘fully’ on what I’m doing. I like helping the customers the most.

I was really happy to see J.R. Martinez win the mirror ball on ‘Dancing with the Stars’. He’s the 28 yr old former soldier who got burnt so badly several years ago. He is a sweet guy and I cheered him on the entire time! He’s a great dancer. Last week, he twisted his ankle and it effected his performance, but he and Katrina bounced right back this week.